In the prior art, in particular according to WO 01/18463, a heat exchange and heat transfer device is already known that includes an evaporator/absorber assembly connected to a binary mixture flow circuit comprising a first so-called refrigerant fluid and a second so-called absorbing fluid, the liquid refrigerant fluid being evaporated in an evaporator portion of the assembly, then absorbed in an absorber portion of the assembly by the absorbing fluid-enriched mixture.
A heat exchange and heat transfer device of the aforesaid type makes it possible, in particular, to produce cold by using a heat source the temperature of which may be relatively low.
The binary mixture may contain water and lithium bromide, in which case the water forms the refrigerant fluid, or the mixture may contain ammonia and water, in which case the ammonia forms the refrigerant fluid.
In addition to the evaporator/absorber assembly, a heat exchange and heat transfer device of the aforesaid type usually includes a generator/condenser assembly.
The generator portion, also called the desorber portion, separates the refrigerant fluid from the absorbing fluid. As a matter of fact, the binary mixture is heated in the generator portion so as to cause vaporization of a portion of the refrigerant fluid, which is dissolved therein (desorption of the refrigerant fluid). Thus, refrigerant fluid vapor and a refrigerant fluid-depleted (absorbing fluid-enriched) liquid mixture is obtained at the output of the generator portion. This refrigerant fluid is condensed in the condenser portion.
In the evaporator/absorber assembly, the liquid refrigerant fluid coming from the condenser portion is vaporized in the evaporator portion, and then dissolved in the refrigerant fluid-depleted mixture (liquid) in the absorber portion.
In a conventional evaporator/absorber assembly, the means for conducting the vaporized refrigerant fluid from the evaporator portion to the absorber portion generally produces an increase in the pressure of the vaporized refrigerant fluid, limiting the performance levels of the heat exchange and heat transfer device.
In the evaporator portion, it is known to vaporize the liquid refrigerant fluid coming from the condenser portion by means of at least one first nozzle. In addition, in the absorber portion, it is known to vaporize the refrigerant fluid-depleted mixture by means of at least one second nozzle. The nozzles form droplets which increase the contact surfaces of the fluids and promote absorption of the refrigerant fluid-depleted (thus absorbent fluid-enriched) mixture.
Thus, an evaporator/absorber assembly conventionally includes nozzles intended to vaporize the liquid refrigerant fluid and the refrigerant fluid-depleted liquid mixture.
However, in a heat exchange and heat transfer device equipped with a nozzle-type evaporator/absorber assembly, the performance/volume ratio is very low.
Furthermore, if a heat exchange and heat transfer device equipped with a nozzle-type evaporator/absorber assembly is installed on a vehicle, the fluid jets issuing forth from these nozzles are susceptible to disruption by the acceleration or tilting of the vehicle, at least when this acceleration occurs in certain directions, at the risk of causing an untimely mixture of the refrigerant fluid and the refrigerant fluid-depleted mixture.